Q&A with Amar Doshi, VP of Supply Growth & Procurement Offers 

When your prices suddenly spike, it can be detrimental to your P&L. Combine that with a heavily volatile supply chain, fueled by international conflict, tariffs and inflation, and you’ve got a recipe for serious business challenges. What can you do to protect your margins? 

We sat down with Amar Doshi, VP of Supply Growth & Procurement Offers and former restaurant chain owner-operator, to find out more about the client experience at Entegra. He dug into what formulaic pricing is (and how it helps you control your costs), the suppliers our group purchasing organization (GPO) offers and the game-changing procurement strategy he recommends. 

Could you explain what you do and how it benefits clients? 

Amar Doshi: I serve as a bridge between clients and Entegra’s Supply Management team, ensuring the breadth and depth of agreements match clients’ evolving procurement needs, like their food & beverage, OS&E and MRO spend. This helps the Supply Management team secure the best deals for our clients’ needs, ensuring they can maximize their return on utilizing Entegra and drive down their overall costs. 

What's always fascinated me about this space is how directly it connects to business performance. During my time as a restaurant operator and owner, I saw firsthand how managing costs — or failing to — shows up immediately on the P&L. That experience gave me a deep appreciation for what operators are up against, and it's what drives me to do this work well. 

My team manages 3 different portions of our procurement offer. 

1. Supplier engagement 

We partner with about 2700 suppliers. It’s a huge network! And a lot of them partner with us in different capacities. We work with them to understand what innovations are coming down their pipelines that our clients would be interested in, such as limited-time offers (LTOs) or promotions. 

Read more: Custom contracting for savings on exactly what you need

2. Supplier activation 

Supplier activation brings new supplier programs to life with our clients. We communicate news about relevant suppliers, explain how we’re pushing the relationship forward and show the value of using particular supplier programs. For example, if we sign on a new food and beverage supplier, we might explain which products work best for your outlet. 

Read more: Transparency and flexibility from the world’s largest food GPO 

3. Local & direct supplier program 

Entegra's Local and Direct supplier program offers everything from specialty meat, seafood and produce to non-food essentials like operating supplies and equipment and maintenance repair operations (MRO), all the way to important services like Orkin and Ecolab. It’s a very wide category. 

My team continuously partners with our Supply Management team to ensure our Local and Direct offer evolves with the needs of our clients. 

You mentioned that you used to be a restaurant owner and operator yourself. Did you have a GPO partner? 

Doshi: We didn’t, but I wish we did because our food cost was out of control. A group purchasing organization (GPO) would have really helped with that. 

My family and I owned a small, regional sandwich shop chain out of Memphis. We quickly realized that small price increases on core protein items and menu items made a major impact on our bottom line. 

My experience as a restaurateur gave me a crash course in everything our clients are up against and what they deal with every day. It’s easy to put myself in a client's shoes because I’ve been there. 

Related: Transform your restaurant procurement 

What’s something that the average business owner gets wrong about procurement? 

Doshi: Many first-time business owners feel like they have to figure out procurement on their own — and that's one of the biggest misconceptions my team works to change. Leveraging a group purchasing organization (GPO) like Entegra means you're not alone in managing costs, and you have Entegra’s $50 billion of purchasing power behind you. 

Beyond that, the operators who see the most savings are the ones who are willing to be flexible. If there's no material impact on the guest experience, shifting to a more economical option is a smart business decision — not a compromise. That mindset unlocks real savings. 

Related: Afraid of onboarding with a GPO? It’s easier than you think 

What’s one piece of advice you would give to operators on how to approach procurement effectively? 

Doshi: The one piece of advice I'll give any business owner, no matter what type of business you operate, is to take a macro perspective on all of your costs. 

A lot of operators get stuck focusing on the micro instead of the macro — it’s hard not to. They’re looking at how today’s costs differ from yesterday’s, and that can lead them to decisions that seem like they’re going to save money, but they’re actually going to hurt their margins. 

So, don’t just look at the month at one P&L. Look at your spend for the quarter. Then you’ll start seeing the trends and start seeing where there’s potential to shift behavior and, ultimately, save money. For our clients, Entegra PurchasingIQ reliably provides full visibility into your purchasing history, including estimated incentives, spend trends and benchmarking. 

This level of visibility helps you plan smarter, which is critical for running a successful business — but it’s something that people often miss. 

Read more: Put your data to work: How to boost your bottom line with procurement spend analytics

Beyond looking at quarterly spend, how can business owners get that macro perspective to reduce costs? 

Doshi: Let's be direct: you're never going to eliminate price increases. Every operator hopes for a “silver bullet” strategy that insulates their business from market swings entirely. It doesn't exist. But what is fully within your control is how you respond to price changes, and how much of the impact you actually have to absorb. 

Take what's happening right now in the Strait of Hormuz. Disruptions of that scale send shockwaves downstream almost immediately. Freight costs skyrocket, packaging gets more expensive and other input costs feel the pressure within weeks. For an independent hotel operator or a mid-size restaurant group without procurement infrastructure, that kind of move can mean absorbing significant price increases with little to no warning. 

That's exactly the scenario where Entegra's pricing strategy changes the outcome. Instead of getting hit with that increase all at once, your costs are structured as a staggered, negotiated climb, spread over time so your P&L has room to breathe. The increase still happens, but you know exactly what’s coming and you can plan for it. This protection is called formulaic pricing. 

Entegra uses formulaic pricing to create lasting stability, giving you more relief now and allowing you to plan better for the future. 

Without this kind of protection, the financial impact can become painful fast. A sudden cost spike can force you to make a choice most operators don't want to make: raise prices, shrink margins, or both. 

We've seen clients come to us after absorbing exactly these kinds of hits — operators who were purchasing off-contract or outside their GPO program and had no buffer when the market moved. When they consolidated their spend through Entegra, the difference wasn't just financial. It changed how they planned, how they budgeted and how confidently they could forecast the year ahead. 

Related: How does a GPO work? Common FAQs 

Would you say that there's value to sticking with a GPO outside of an economic downturn? 

Doshi: I think there's always a benefit to working with a group purchasing organization. It's not just when macroeconomic pressures push prices higher. It is a consistent value proposition that will help you find relief on the commodities you depend on. 

When you’re not part of a GPO, who’s watching your back? That’s what our Supply Management team does every day — they monitor markets, keep up with input costs and make sure that you’re getting the best possible price on products. 

Entegra proactively helps you protect your margins, improve efficiency and, ultimately, drive performance. For example, Entegra’s ecosystem of data and digital solutions provides a 360-degree view of your procurement performance and key incentives and opportunities, from a high-level view at the organizational level, all the way down to product-level detail. 

And on the culinary side, Entegra Culinary Consulting (ECC) offers expert, hands-on support that makes your kitchen easier to run. Food prices are rising for everyone these days, the labor market is tight and guest preferences are changing fast. I know from experience it can be hard to keep up with all of this, especially when you’re trying to run your day-to-day business at the same time. ECC can help you control food costs, manage labor constraints and test recipes so they perform at scale. 

Read more: Q&A: How to build your best menu with culinary consulting 

Your GPO partner watches your back so you can focus on your business 

First-time operators often feel like they have to “go it alone” when it comes to procurement — but you don’t have to. A GPO partner like Entegra can help you lock in stable pricing, giving you immediate relief. From day one, our Supply Management team advocates on your behalf, allowing your business to confidently plan for the future. 

Contact us to learn more about how Entegra can help you keep costs in check. 

Frequently asked questions 

What is a GPO, and how can it help my business?  

When you partner with a group purchasing organization (GPO) you join other buyers in leveraging your collective purchasing power — in Entegra’s case, totaling over $50 billion globally. 

That purchasing power enables your business to access better prices and a broader selection of high-quality items, services and support than would typically be accessible to an individual business. 

What is a GPO contract?  

GPO contracts are pre-negotiated agreements with suppliers and manufacturers that allow you to access cost savings. With Entegra’s contracts, you can lock in lower-than-market pricing while enjoying the flexibility to buy outside of contracts if that makes sense for your business. 

Are there any costs or requirements for working with Entegra? 

No! Entegra supports clients of all sizes and industries, with no membership fees or purchasing minimums required. In other words, you don’t need to pay us to purchase from any of our 2700+ contracted suppliers. When you’re ready to start saving up to 30%, access deeper discounts and secure a stable supplier network, getting started with Entegra is a simple three-step process. 

Will I have to switch distributors or buy different products if I partner with a group purchasing organization?   

Entegra works with multiple distribution partners and over 2,700 supplier partners, providing access to the selections you trust. And if you can’t find what you need, we offer flexible custom contracting. 

What types of products and services does Entegra offer that other group purchasing organizations don't?  

Entegra helps you save on everything, including: 

• Food and beverage
• Supplies
• Furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E)
• Capital equipment
• Smallwares
• Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO)
• And more! 

We put your business’s performance first. That means that in addition to helping you save money and improve margins on the items you purchase, our experts deliver a range of services to improve your business. 

We provide expertise in a wide range of operational services to help you achieve your corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, meet energy efficiency targets, minimize food waste and more. 

You can also access a variety of data services, insights and reports for tracking and strengthening your business performance — all backed by the global purchasing power and culinary expertise of our parent company, Sodexo. 

In short, we never profit from any relationship until you see value first.